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Managing software inventory and metric utilization
Learn how to classify the discovered software so that reports in BigFix Inventory reflect your entitlements and properly show utilization of license metrics by particular products.
License metrics
BigFix Inventory provides two types of information about license metrics utilization: aggregated utilization and raw utilization. The former shows utilization of the assigned license metric by all instances of a particular product within the reporting period. However, it is limited to a subset of license metrics. The latter shows data that is collected from .slmtag files. It shows raw utilization of all license metrics that can be used by a particular product. The data is not aggregated and requires further processing.
Reported license metrics
BigFix Inventory reports utilization for a number of license metrics for IBM and non-IBM products. It also shows products that are assigned any BigFix metric even if calculating utilization is not yet supported for this metric. It gives you an overview of all IBM metrics for which you should have licenses.
IBM Processor value unit (PVU)
A processor value unit (PVU) is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the licensing cost of BigFix middleware products. It is based on the type of processor that is deployed on the server where the software is installed. For each product, you must acquire the appropriate number of PVUs that is defined for the specific processor on which the software is installed.
Uploading an IBM PVU table
The PVU table supports processor-based pricing models in which charges differ according to the type of processor on which the licensed product is installed and running. In the table, a number of units are assigned to each processor type on which this type of pricing model is available. BigFix continues to update the PVU table to include new processor types and models. To ensure that the processors are properly detected and charged, upload a new version of the PVU table whenever it is available.

Managing software inventory and metric utilization
Learn how to classify the discovered software so that reports in BigFix Inventory reflect your entitlements and properly show utilization of license metrics by particular products.
- Software catalogs
  To correctly identify components of software products in your infrastructure, ensure that your software catalog is always up-to-date. Periodically import a new catalog that contains the most recent software products. Also, manually add products that are installed in your infrastructure but do not have corresponding entries in the catalog.
- Enterprise applications inventory
  Software components are discovered by software scans. The scans correlate data that is collected from the computers with the content of the software catalog, and thus determine whether a component is installed. However, software scans do not discover details of some enterprise applications, for example licensable options of Oracle Database or editions of Microsoft Exchange. The details are discovered by dedicated fixlets. If you are interested in discovering additional details of enterprise applications, run the dedicated fixlets apart from scheduling software scans. Otherwise, running the fixlets is not required.
- Software classification
  After new components are discovered, they are assigned to products based on bundling rules. If the initial assignment does not reflect your entitlements, work with the software inventory until it matches the entitlements. To make metric calculation accurate, assign each component to a product, exclude, or suppress the instances that should not be included in the calculation, and confirm your actions. After you confirm the actions, the classification is complete, and the metric calculation is accurate.
- License metrics
  BigFix Inventory provides two types of information about license metrics utilization: aggregated utilization and raw utilization. The former shows utilization of the assigned license metric by all instances of a particular product within the reporting period. However, it is limited to a subset of license metrics. The latter shows data that is collected from .slmtag files. It shows raw utilization of all license metrics that can be used by a particular product. The data is not aggregated and requires further processing.
  - Reported license metrics
    BigFix Inventory reports utilization for a number of license metrics for IBM and non-IBM products. It also shows products that are assigned any BigFix metric even if calculating utilization is not yet supported for this metric. It gives you an overview of all IBM metrics for which you should have licenses.
    - IBM FlexPoints
      Available from 9.2.13. FlexPoint is a license metric unit that can be used to determine the cost of IBM products that are purchased as part of FlexPoint bundles. Each product from a bundle is licensed based on a different license metric but all metrics are converted into IBM FlexPoints. The conversion is based on the specific calculations. PVU and RVU software that is assigned to a FlexPoint bundle, must be licensed based on subcapacity rules. Products that are currently available as part of FlexPoint bundles are products from the IBM Cloud and IBM Analytics.
    - Microsoft Single and Dual Physical Processor
      Available from 9.2.8. Microsoft Single Physical Processor and Dual Physical Processor metrics are used to determine the licensing cost of Microsoft products. They are based on the number of active physical processors that are deployed on the host where the software is installed. When the software is installed on multiple hosts, all active processors from all hosts contribute to metric utilization.
    - Microsoft Physical Core with SA
      Available from 9.2.6. The Microsoft Physical Core with SA metric is used to determine the licensing cost of Microsoft products. It is based on the number of physical cores that are deployed on the host where the software is installed. When the software is installed on multiple hosts, all cores from all hosts contribute to metric utilization. Because this license type is based on physical cores, the same number of cores is assigned regardless of whether the software is installed on a physical host or on a virtual machine.
    - Microsoft Virtual Core with SA
      Available from 9.2.7. The Microsoft Virtual Core with SA metric is used to determine the licensing cost of Microsoft products that have Software Assurance. It is based on the number of virtual cores that are available to the product. When the product is installed on multiple virtual machines, virtual cores from all machines contribute to metric utilization.
    - Oracle Processor Core
      Available from 9.2.8. Oracle Processor Core metric is used to determine the licensing cost of Oracle products. It is based on the number of physical cores that are deployed on the host where the software is installed multiplied by an appropriate processor core factor. When the software is installed on multiple hosts, all cores that require applying the same core factor are added. Then, the factor is applied to calculate metric utilization.
    - Other IBM metrics
      BigFix Inventory reports utilization for a vast number of BigFix license metrics. It also shows products that are assigned any IBM metric even if calculating utilization is not yet supported for this metric.BigFix Inventory also shows utilization of license metrics for products that deliver .slmtag files.
    - IBM Processor value unit (PVU)
      A processor value unit (PVU) is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the licensing cost of BigFix middleware products. It is based on the type of processor that is deployed on the server where the software is installed. For each product, you must acquire the appropriate number of PVUs that is defined for the specific processor on which the software is installed.
      - IBM Processor value unit table
        A processor value unit table contains information about the conversion ratio that is used for available processor types.
      - Uploading an IBM PVU table
        The PVU table supports processor-based pricing models in which charges differ according to the type of processor on which the licensed product is installed and running. In the table, a number of units are assigned to each processor type on which this type of pricing model is available. BigFix continues to update the PVU table to include new processor types and models. To ensure that the processors are properly detected and charged, upload a new version of the PVU table whenever it is available.
    - Registered User
      Available from 9.2.13. Registered User is a license metric unit that can be used to determine the licensing cost of Microsoft Office 365 and a number of Adobe Creative Cloud products.
    - Setting and removing the declared metric quantity
      Available from 9.2.16. On the All Metrics report, you can manually declare the metric quantity for selected license types for which BigFix Inventory does not calculate the utilization. You can also use this option to customize the metric quantity if needed. The declared value takes precedence over the value that is measured by the application.
    - IBM Resource value unit (RVU MAPC)
      Resource value unit (RVU MAPC) is a license metric unit that is based on the number of activated processor cores that are available to the product. An activated processor core is a core that is managed or used by a product, regardless of whether the capacity of the processor core can be limited through virtualization technologies.
    - IBM Virtual processor core (VPC)
      Available from 9.2.11. A virtual processor core (VPC) is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the licensing cost of BigFix products. It is based on the number of virtual cores (vCPUs) that are available to the product. A vCPU is a virtual core that is assigned to a virtual machine or a physical processor core if the server is not partitioned for virtual machines.
  - License metric utilization
    The primary source of information about license metric utilization is the All Metrics report. For every product, you can specify a metric threshold to verify whether metric utilization is above or below your expectations. You can also create a snapshot of the report, and store it for audit purposes.
  - Raw utilization of license metrics
    Available from 9.2.1. Raw data about utilization of license metrics is collected for products that deliver .slmtag files and is shown on the Resource Utilization report. The data that is shown on the report is not aggregated. It means that if a product can use five license metrics, five rows are shown on the report for that product. What is more, all metrics that are available for a product are displayed, not only metrics that are defined by your license agreement.
- Software license optimization
  BigFix Inventory helps you optimize your software licenses. You can analyze the software inventory in your environment and maximize the utilization of your assets. Learn how to minimize the costs of acquiring and maintaining licenses and track license compliance for the software products that are installed in your environment. You can verify the needs and requirements of your environment and then apply the most appropriate license model.
- Reports
  Reports provide detailed information about the computers in your infrastructure and the software items that are installed on these computers. You can decide what type of information you want to display by choosing the appropriate type of report. You can also customize the type and amount of information that is displayed in a report and save the report settings to reuse them.
- Contracts
  You use contracts to track license compliance for the software products that are installed in your environment. When you purchase a software license, you create a contract that contains information about the cost of acquiring and maintaining the license, and the period of entitlement. You use that information to track spending that is associated with software licenses and manage costs of extending or downsizing licenses for the software products. You can also avoid costs that are related to license non-compliance by ensuring that enough software licenses are purchased.

Uploading an IBM PVU table

The PVU table supports processor-based pricing models in which charges differ according to the type of processor on which the licensed product is installed and running. In the table, a number of units are assigned to each processor type on which this type of pricing model is available. BigFix continues to update the PVU table to include new processor types and models. To ensure that the processors are properly detected and charged, upload a new version of the PVU table whenever it is available.

Before you begin

An icon representing a user.

You must have the Manage Uploads permission to perform this task.

9.2.6 A new PVU table is uploaded to BigFix Inventory during the upgrade. Use this procedure when a new table is published between application updates.

About this task

The PVU table file is authenticated with SHA-256 to comply with the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) security standards. Previous versions of PVU tables that are signed with SHA1 are not supported.

Procedure

In the top navigation bar, click Management > Metric Table Upload.
To download PVU table, use Download PVU table fixlet.

Note: Download PVU table fixlet is available since 10.0.4.
To upload PVU table, click Choose File, select the file that you downloaded, and click Upload.
A new entry is created in the Upload and Import History table. The status of the PVU table is Pending.
Wait for the scheduled import or run it manually.
For BigFix Inventory to be compliant with Subcapacity, you must upgrade the server.